1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to nut feeders and, more particularly, to nut feeders for feeding nuts to nut resistance welding equipment and broadly to a nut feeder for feeding nuts to a predetermined position.
2. Description of Related Art
Nut feeders are used for feeding nuts to nut resistance welding equipment. One particular type of nut feeder is pneumatically operated. A pushrod is provided at its front end with a nut support and connected at its back end to a piston and cylinder powered by pressurized air. The piston and cylinder serve as an actuator and the nut is held in place during piston movement by the same pressurized air used to power the piston. A pushing operation of the pressurized air in the cylinder moves the pushrod forward to feed a nut held by the support to a target position of a workpiece. Complex valving and/or spring loaded pushrods have been used accomplish the reciprocating movement of the pushrod. It is desirable to have a pneumatic nut feeder that is simpler in design with less moving parts such as valves. It is also desirable to eliminate the use of spring loaded pushrods to make the nut feeders less expensive, faster, and more reliable to operate and also a more repeatable nut feeding operation.